[PRP] out to lunch (preacher & jeremiah)

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah opened the door to his office, leaning out to peer at Preacher who was at her desk.

"Preacher," he said solemnly, expression serious. "What are your thoughts on lunch? My treat."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Well, I think 'bout lunch quite a good bit," she said, flashing him a smile. "Gimme fifteen ta finish up this report n' I'm free." It was kind of surreal, in a way. A scant year ago, if someone had asked her where she saw herself, this would've been the last possibility. Preacher stretched a bit awkwardly (her desk had a foot hammock she'd brought in; it helped her feel less short), and bent back to the keyboard.

Fifteen minutes later she was knocking on Mercer's door. Hew as one of the very, very few she would allow to treat her without pulling a big stink. And there would probably be a little stink when the bill came, anyway. She frowned. Did that mean she was relying on him too much? Ugh.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah was prepared for a stink but also did not mind it and honestly expected it. Not that Preacher wasn't worth a lunch here and there given the work she did and put in. He looked up from his own work, signing off a couple more documents before he set his pen down and stood.

"Don't suppose you mind Darlene's?" It was one of only a few places in town he would reliably eat at and not make faces. (Jeremiah was definitely a touch snobbish when it came to eating at restaurants if he thought the cooks were poor.) "Otherwise, you'll have to pick something out."

Not that he wouldn't try places, just not on his own.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"I don' mind. I been there afore. Big guy, has nice dogs, root beer, et cetera." She grinned and shoved her hands into her pockets. Her jacket was a bit too big for her, but she liked it that way. At her house, she could sit on a couch and pull her knees up and the coat went over them. It was great. For her hat, she still had the ratty thing from the void and she wore it religiously. It helped her remember s**t was different.

"Why - you not eat out much?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah plucked up the cane that was hanging on the edge of his desk and, of all things, made like he was using it.

He would get the door for Preacher on the way out, saving any conversation for when they were not in the building anymore. A tilt of his head gestured towards where he was parked because this was not the kind of weather to walk to Darlene's.

"Ah, yeah, there's ... been some changes there. If you haven't been since you've been back," he said as he unlocked his car (that was thankfully the same car he had driven before; the steering wheel on the proper side for England).

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Preacher shot the cane a look. She didn't think he'd been using it before, and it was concerning. Still she slid into the car, figuring he wouldn't answer a single thing in public.

"I don eat out much." Preacher was still a penny pincher through and through. There was no guarantee in life that she'd have a home - Chester could kick her out without warning, for example. And she always needed a cushion of money. She'd grow it nice and fat before she bought more than the rarest indulgence.

She tugged on the seatbelt. With how short she was, it always felt like it was trying to strangle her. "So... why tha cane? Is it a big fiery bullshit ashdown thing like ya migraines or...?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Neither do I," at eating out at places, "except when Alg wants to go out. I prefer cooking things myself in most cases." Preacher had, on more than one occasion, ended up with things he had made.

He put the car into reverse after he buckled in and started up, checking his mirror before he was backing up. The cane had a nook for it - another shift that he could've dealt without - and sighed when Preacher asked about it.

"No, he's not at fault for this. The me that I ... replaced was injured badly in the past and tends to make use of this during the colder months." Which meant he was drawing attention for not using it the first couple of days he had been 'back'.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Well, she thought, at least it wasn't another notch of fireass' s**t list. It was long enough anyway. Maybe, she thought, she and Alexis could work somethin' out.

"What'd not-you do to get injured? Like, does it ache during tha cold n' stuff?" Preacher frowned.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Never let Jeremiah know what Preacher and Alexis were possibly, or not possibly, working out. Ezra was forever a mix bag of feelings for him.

"Alg had - well has now - a journalist that was rather fixated on him but left him alone ultimately that apparently didn't do the same here. Apparently the man caused an accident and it resulted in injury while chasing a story that Alg was hiding being magical." There was an eye roll as Jeremiah was openly known as having magic in this new reality but his husband was normal. "Alg ended up bruised but I ended up with more than a few broken bones, so ... yes, it aches and locks up during colder weather. I can only guess it's part of the reason why I actively worked towards advancement within the department."

Perhaps it would've been easier if he had been younger, to suddenly be in a new reality, because dealing with forty years of things not quite the same as they had been was tiring. The incident was also the point he could find of injury for himself in this new reality so he wondered if the damage should've been worse given his own abilities.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Off tha beat, off tha leg. How'd ya even figure that all out?" Preacher hadn't bothered into looking how her past had changed. It was all behind her, and even if she had lingering things from another her... Preacher's past was what had shaped her, not some other person of her. Maybe she should check her scars for changes, though.

She shifted in the seat. "I ain't bothered to look, y'know." And maybe, a part of her was scared to find out. Like, the world could change, but Preacher was still a shitstain from nowhere. This way, if she felt like it, she could spin up silly tales about how it was different. She did not do this often.

Azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"It's not something recent, about six years ago." Jeremiah glanced up into the rearview mirror, as if he suddenly expected something to be there. It wasn't but he was thinking about car accidents now (as that was what it had been). "There's a restraining order in place against the person that caused the accident and I've got years worth of case and personal notebooks."

A bemused look was thrown Preacher's way as they reached the parking lot of Darlene's. "Mostly it was finding pictures of Alg and myself looking banged up with a cane and while we healed, the cane stayed." He found a parking spot, putting the car in park and looking over to her.

"It could just be little things, if you're lucky. Just enough slight differences to make things seem odd but mostly the same." The engine was turned off.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Preacher made a noncommittal noise. It must be so weird to find out something was different all along. Maybe she'd check her scars over later, just in case. "Sounds like an annoyin' surprise." Darlene's looked mostly the same, but every building held a change. Preacher didn't really care too much, but she hoped there were still dogs.

"Well, I fig'red if I gotta rap sheet, I'd not be in tha same job. Don't wanna look." She shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "Only thing different now is I can make sense of sigils n' junk, I guess." Preacher popped the door open; no sense in waiting in a parked car. She began to get out as she talked. "I don't really understand it, though, y'-" And she stood up and into a different Ashdown. Or at least she assumed it was something of the sort - there wasn't really anyone else around and Mercer's car was gone.

"Well, s**t," she said, with feeling.  

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah had been focused a different direction, noticing something out of the corner of his eye only to catch a glimmer as Preacher's speech broke off and then.

He blinked a few times, noticing the car door was open and the young woman was nowhere to be seen. A hand smoothed across his face, a growl escaping, before he was leaning across to pull the passenger door shut. Making sure it was in park, his keys were slipped into his pocket, and he closed his eyes.

It was a state of mind, picturing the place he wanted to go in his mind, and he would just be there. Which was why, when he opened his eyes, he was standing right outside Darlene's in other ashdown.

"Preacher?" he called out. This was the only place she could have gone, right? This was a step above in ridiculousness considering that time Algie had stepped out of the bathroom only to end up in other ashdown.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Preacher had debated briefly (very, very briefly) the merits of sitting and waiting versus exploration and, as always random exploration won out. So, by the time that Mercer had popped over, she was already halfway inside the front door of the bullshit version of Darlene's.

"M'over here," she called out, and stepped through the door. It clanged closed behind her. What were the odds that this Darlene's had any kind of good food? Preacher would bet money that the odds were super ********' low. She sighed.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah turned, looking towards her and then quickly to the front window of Darlene's. What had once been there - the crown, the sword, and the stars - was no longer emblazoned there in that bright red. The window was dark and gave no hint of what was inside.

"That takes the number one spot for inopportune crossover moments," he told her, following after. Part of him was interested in what was inside, he'd never gone inside, but the other part of him was thinking food (and knew other ashdown food was terrible for the most part, unless one was at the Court). "Thankfully it dropped you in the same place instead of somewhere else entirely."

The Semblance of Unity